What a Military Supply Depot Contains

[bocephus]

Originally Posted by Christopher R. Rice

For one of my games the PCs have found a National Guard supply depot in the States. What might it contain. I currently have:

• Ammo (but how much?)
• Weapons (ditto)
• Food (both MREs and bulk shelf stable food to be cooked)
• A couple of humvees

I've also decided they have a barracks, small machine shop, and of course supply buildings.

What am I missing? References to GURPS books with equipment a huge plus. A little help would be most appreciated.

First let me say, If its empty of people there should be a REAL good reason it hasn't been looted to the dust on the floor, because I promise you everyone for 100miles knows about that place and has at least had a conversation about how to get the goodies.

Also a disclaimer than most of my experience is with RESERVE units which are different but we interacted with the guard enough to have a decent idea how it was laid out.

Some states don't even offer Weapon training to their NG people (Ohio is one), thus you will probably not find any ammo in these depots. I don't have any first hand knowledge of any state that does have NG units that roll with weapons.

Without knowing the world status I would also say if this is a post apocalypse kind thing you would probably find it full of the NG families and friends. Knowing military people (as I am one, and have had exactly this conversation in the past) there would be at least verbal plans made in the event that it all falls apart to bring their loved ones in, keep things going and make themselves comfortable and safe.
There would also be a significant chunk of Locals that would probably be thinking that taking that depot would be their best survival option and 20 guys with high powered hunting rifles, some skill shoooting and a little planning could have a decent chance to take a facility like that if they could get organized before the NG guys do (assuming the NG guys wouldnt already just have them on the list of people to invite).

Depending on the scenario your PCs might be walking into a Jerico/Thunderdome/armed fortified settlement situation where they have to give up their weapons if they can even get entry at all.

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You also need to keep in mind there is a great deal of variation depending on which state and which depot.

Some states invest much less in their NG than others, and all states prioritize them fairly low compared to police/fire/medicine/ etc... Also most States/units have fallen victim to the same bean counters that pushed all the other supply chains into Just In Time efficiency (I'm actually hedging a bit here saying "most" cause I really think is "ALL" but I'm not 100% sure). Depending on the actual function of the depot in might be very specialized instead of having everything you need, it might just be MREs or Construction equipment, etc.

So anything that doesn't have an exception shelf life (water, Fuel, medicines) is probably NOT stored in greater quantities that the initial "emergency roll out phase" requires. There would be plans to supply those items at the emergency location as needed rather than having people roll out with hundreds of tons of equipment to regain control of New Orleans after a hurricane.
More likely (if they even have weapons) they might have ~1,000 rounds to be dolled out to one or two "trusted" people per squad across the whole unit. Enough Fuel for the transports vehicles (they probably subcontract for buses to move personnel), and maybe a small 500gallon supply of gas/diesel for chainsaws and generators. Tents for the Unit personnel (max~500 more likely initially 250 or so) and some initial triage, lights and radios.

It would be perfectly legit to have a depot that has a "NON-Combat" mission and does not have quantities of ammo/food onsite.

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The more the state in question invests in their NG, the more variation you can expect to find and the more complete and supplied it will be for their most likely missions.

If they have significant ammo onsite, they will have a round the clock guard force in addition to other security measures and requisite supplies and resources to keep them going for a period of time along with the fact that the guard force has access to all these other resources in the event of catastrophe.
It would also be unsurprising to find a very limited quantity of ammo on most sites because most units draw from a common specialized ammo supply depot because of the security requirements. So you may only find a small amount of secured small arms sufficient for initial stand up.

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Some states see the NG role to be more a riot control/disaster support so the gear would be less in the direction of armored weapon platforms or ammunition and more on Generators, chainsaws, riot gear, non-lethal deterents, razor wire (constantina wire), water treatment equipment, tents, barricades, radios, MREs, hospital gear, blankets, construction equipment for digging, grating, lifting. Fuel and water would probably be limited as most units plan to pull from larger depots for specific missions.

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Access to any computerized inventory systems is likely to be a challenge not just because of security, but because many of those older systems are not windows based. hacking them or perhaps even navigating them could be a challenge for someone not familiar with Unix style menus or 'command line interfaces'.

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by thrash

This is a place where you would be justified in throwing obstacles at the player characters. In my experience, automated supply systems are frequently the last dying place of obsolete, legacy (e.g. -- no joke -- DOS 3.0-based) computer systems and proprietary hardware. Upgrades are decades apart, because it's so traumatic to move everything to a new system. The new system, which was a compromise designed by committee and provided by the lowest bidder, was probably obsolete before it was fielded because it took so long to implement. And the cycle starts all over again.

The logisticians who use the system are resigned to its quirks and know the work-arounds to get the most out of it. Anyone else who comes in expecting to turn it on and go is likely in for a rude shock.

The military is one of a few fields well known for using outdated systems. COBOL, for example, would be as dead as Sumerian if not for military, government, and banking systems being stuck in it. The data is formatted for it, so the existing code remains in use, so the data remains formatted for it.

[Willy]

Originally Posted by RyanW

The military is one of a few fields well known for using outdated systems. COBOL, for example, would be as dead as Sumerian if not for military, government, and banking systems being stuck in it. The data is formatted for it, so the existing code remains in use, so the data remains formatted for it.

That is for sure, the more remote or neglected the base the more old stuff is still in use, even for critical systems. It is known nowadays that several emergeny bases at Sept 11 couldn´t communicate digital with the White House or NORAD!, because nobody had updated the hardware in decades, so the US president had quite a long fly in the airforce one and then via a main military base went back to the White House! The planned HQ for such a case was useless due to this problems.

As Bocephus wrote in his post above every local in the vincimity of a known base may it be in use or given up has put some thought about what he would do if... . As a civilian living near a actual important european base and 2 or more given up facilities some of high importance I can tell this is true. In fact the locals know much more than they should, including often military secrets. just because base personal has friends and family living nearby and people talk, thankfully mostly not to outsiders.

There was a joke that once the cold war was over and the veil was lifted a bit some generals were quite shocked as they told some reporters the real reason for some installations or events and the reporters said "Oh nice we knew since 20 years. We just didn´t wrote about it for obvious reasons". So much for military secret keeping.

As for the base or depot, I thought once about a similar before and post apocalyptic campaign and want to share some ideas. First you need base far away from large population centers, because any known and that are next to all military bases still standing will be the first target for refugees, looters and such, they will be overrun if the have not large and well trained personal, which is unlikely to shoot at their relatives and friends. And as Bo has written every one stationed in such a base has thought about how he would act in such a situation including a list of people who are considered useful and the potential troublemakers.

I made the concept of a remote base used several times a year for training or nearly abandoned base used as a alternative airstrip in the wilderness. Such a base would have all needed to keep a plane / helicopter running and do the most repairs needed to get the thing to a real installation, including fuel and repair shops, you wouldn´t face hordes of whatever in the first days, and the staff would have enough food, ammo, water and vehicles to be equipped for most situations, for a long enough timespan. There are a couple of such installations all over the US and EU, same goes for russia.

The other set could be a near abandoned but still used bunker in which important stuff is stored mostly of the archived form. Since it´s sometimes still a secret the place is guarded by a squad to platoon size, who change every few weeks with the next shift. So you have troops, with their personal weapons and ammo, food for a certain time, quarters, kitchen, gym and a emergency aid station, and all the stuff and installations to keep the guys ready and the moral not to low. Everything stocked and with spare parts to keep the whole place running, without outside help for some time. The backside is no vehicles besides the ones needed to transport the guys to this locaciton and maybe a few private cars.

We have in my nation at least one such outfit, and the bunker is partly rented to privat people who want to keep their valuables or network servers good protected. That´s why this is known openly? One company was a bit annoyed because their service techs had to make a apointment in advance, go through a security check AND were while inside the perimeter was always escorted by two guards with their weapons in hand.

[DeadParrot]

Another consideration is how fast did the "Event" happen? If things unraveled slowly, very possible the depot was used to equip units being activated. The normal supply levels could well be very depleted. There might be very few operable vehicles since most mission ready vehicles would be gone. Things like fork lifts and such would likely still be there as would much of the large repair machinery.

As others mentioned, surviving locals have probably picked over the leftovers before your group arrives.

Possible plot hooks:
Can the PCs find enough records to determine where the units went and check there for the missing supplies?
Are some of the locals sitting on stuff they don't know how to use or can't use but feel is valuable? Someone that took a pallet of 5.56 ball ammo but only has 30.06 hunting rifles.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Christopher R. Rice

What am I missing?

Large supplies of paperwork. There are probably less blank forms than in the pre-computer age, but there will be filing cabinets full of paper.

[dcarson]

I've posted this before and it is way out of date but here is a complete list of what a WW II Marine division packed. http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC...ous/index.html

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by DeadParrot

As others mentioned, surviving locals have probably picked over the leftovers before your group arrives.

And if they haven't, there's a reason...

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by benz72

Things that I haven't seen already mentioned:

Things that shouldn't be there but probably are

• porn
• alcohol, tobacco, illegal drugs
• items for gambling

What if alcohol is regular issue?

[Farmer]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

What if alcohol is regular issue?

"Two cans, per day, per man, perhaps."

[RGTraynor]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

What if alcohol is regular issue?

Well ... you could as readily ask "what if crystal meth is regular issue?" No doubt things would be different, but since it isn't, it's a moot question.

+1! on the obsolete hardware issue. I had occasion to visit a local Guard armory a few years ago, and even knowing institutional grasping of obsolete tech, I was pretty shocked to see a 1981-era operating system in use.

On the bright side, at least Russian hackers aren't getting into THAT system. (On the less than bright side, I'm not sure how the ARMY is getting into that system.)